vaccination

vaccination,

means of producing immunityimmunity,ability of an organism to resist disease by identifying and destroying foreign substances or organisms. Although all animals have some immune capabilities, little is known about nonmammalian immunity......Click the link for more information. against pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, by the introduction of live, killed, or altered antigens that stimulate the body to produce antibodies against more dangerous forms. Vaccination was used in ancient times in China, India, and Persia, and was introduced in the West in 1796 by Edward JennerJenner, Edward,1749–1823, English physician; pupil of John Hunter. His invaluable experiments beginning in 1796 with the vaccination of eight-year-old James Phipps proved that cowpox provided immunity against smallpox......Click the link for more information.. Jenner demonstrated that rubbing or scraping the cowpox virus (the term vaccine comes from the Latin vacca, cow) into the skin produced only a local lesion but was sufficient to stimulate the production of antibodies that would defend the body against the more virulent smallpox.

Vaccination has eradicated smallpoxsmallpox,acute, highly contagious disease causing a high fever and successive stages of severe skin eruptions. Occurring worldwide in epidemics, it killed up to 40% of those who contracted it and accounted for more deaths over time than any other infectious disease......Click the link for more information. worldwide and prevents such diseases as choleracholeraor Asiatic cholera,acute infectious disease caused by strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae that have been infected by bacteriophages. The bacteria, which are found in fecal-contaminated food and water and in raw or undercooked seafood, produce a.....Click the link for more information., rabiesrabiesor hydrophobia, acute viral infection of the central nervous system in dogs, foxes, raccoons, skunks, bats, and other animals, and in humans. The virus is transmitted from an animal to a person, or from one animal to another, via infected saliva, most often by.....Click the link for more information., and typhoid fevertyphoid feveracute, generalized infection caused by Salmonella typhi. The main sources of infection are contaminated water or milk and, especially in urban communities, food handlers who are carriers......Click the link for more information.. Vaccines work with the immune system's ability to recognize and destroy foreign proteins (antigens) that it determines are "nonself." Scientists are using this same principle to help the body recognize antigens peculiar to cancer cells. It is also applied in an experimental birth controlbirth control,practice of contraception for the purpose of limiting reproduction. Methods of Birth Control

Male birth control methods include withdrawal of the male before ejaculation (the oldest contraceptive technique) and use of the condom, a rubber sheath.....Click the link for more information. vaccine that tricks the immune system into believing that human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone secreted by a developing fertilized egg, is foreign, thus inactivating it and inducing menstruation even if fertilization has occurred. Vaccines are also used to control animal pests by conferring temporary infertility.

Vaccination programs have been notably successful in the United States. For example, in 1998 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported only one case of poliomyelitis, one of diphtheria, 34 of tetanus, and 89 of measles. Despite the availability of vaccines, many thousands of people in the United States still die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases such as hepatitishepatitis, inflammation of the liver. There are many types of hepatitis. Causes include viruses, toxic chemicals, alcohol consumption, parasites and bacteria, and certain drugs......Click the link for more information. and influenzainfluenzaor flu,acute, highly contagious disease caused by a RNA virus (family Orthomyxoviridae); formerly known as the grippe. There are three types of the virus, designated A, B, and C, but only types A and B cause more serious contagious infections......Click the link for more information..

Immunization against 17 diseases is recommended for young children and adolescents: hepatitis B (HepB); rotavirus; diphtheriadiphtheria, acute contagious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Klebs-Loffler bacillus) bacteria that have been infected by a bacteriophage. It begins as a soreness of the throat with fever......Click the link for more information., tetanustetanusor lockjaw,acute infectious disease of the central nervous system caused by the toxins of Clostridium tetani. The organism has a widespread distribution and is common in the soil, human and animal feces, and the digestive tracts of animals and humans;.....Click the link for more information. (lockjaw), and pertussis (whooping coughwhooping coughor pertussis,highly communicable infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. The early or catarrhal stage of whooping cough is manifested by the usual symptoms of an upper respiratory infection with bronchial involvement......Click the link for more information.), given together as DTaP (formerly DTP) and, for older children, Tdap; Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib); poliomyelitispoliomyelitis, polio,or infantile paralysis,acute viral infection, mainly of children but also affecting older persons. There are three immunologic types of poliomyelitis virus, one of which was eradicated in 1999; exposure to one type produces immunity.....Click the link for more information. (IPV); pneumococcal infections, including pneumoniapneumonia, acute infection of one or both lungs that can be caused by a bacterium, usually Streptococcus pneumoniae (also called pneumococcus; see streptococcus), or by a virus, fungus, or other organism......Click the link for more information., meningitismeningitisor cerebrospinal meningitis, acute inflammation of the meninges, the membranes that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord. It can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or other organisms, usually introduced via the bloodstream from infections.....Click the link for more information., and bacteremia (PCV and PPV); measlesmeaslesor rubeola, highly contagious disease of young children, caused by a filterable virus and spread by droplet spray from the nose, mouth, and throat of individuals in the infective stage......Click the link for more information., mumpsmumps(epidemic parotitis), acute contagious viral disease, manifesting itself chiefly in pain and swelling of the salivary glands, especially those at the angle of the jaw. Other symptoms are fever, a general feeling of illness, and pain on chewing or swallowing......Click the link for more information., and rubellarubellaor German measles,acute infectious disease of children and young adults. It is caused by a filterable virus that is spread by droplet spray from the respiratory tract of an infected individual......Click the link for more information., given together as MMR; chicken poxchicken poxor varicella, infectious disease usually occurring in childhood. It is believed to be caused by the same herpesvirus that produces shingles. Chicken pox is highly communicable and is characterized by an easily recognizable rash consisting of blisterlike.....Click the link for more information. (Var); hepatitis A (HepA); influenza; Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcal meningitis; MCV4, MPSV4); and human papillomavirushuman papillomavirus(HPV), any of a family of more than 60 viruses that cause various growths, including plantar warts and genital warts, a sexually transmitted disease. Detectable warts can be or removed, usually by chemicals, freezing, or laser, but often recur......Click the link for more information. (HPV). Researchers are working to develop combination vaccines that would simplify vaccine administration. Immunization against diseases such as yellow feveryellow fever,acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South and Central America. Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in stagnant water near human habitations......Click the link for more information. may be necessary before traveling to some countries. In 2002 the U.S. government decided to reinstitute smallpox vaccination for many military, health-care, and emergency personnel because of concern about a possible bioterror attack using smallpox.

See also inoculationinoculation,in medicine, introduction of a preparation into the tissues or fluids of the body for the purpose of preventing or curing certain diseases. The preparation is usually a weakened culture of the agent causing the disease, as in vaccination against smallpox; however,.....Click the link for more information..

Bibliography

See study by A. Allen (2007).

Vaccination

Active immunization against a variety of microorganisms or their components, with the ultimate goal of protecting the host against subsequent challenge by the naturally occurring infectious agent. The terms vaccine and vaccination were originally used only in connection with Edward Jenner's method for preventing smallpox, introduced in 1796. In 1881 Louis Pasteur proposed that these terms should be used to describe any prophylactic immunization. Vaccination now refers to active immunization against a variety of bacteria, viruses, and parasites (for example, malaria and trypanosomes). SeeSmallpox

Implicit within Jenner's method of vaccinating against smallpox was the recognition of immunologic cross-reactivity together with the notion that protection can be obtained through active immunization with a different, but related, live virus. It was not until the 1880s that the next immunizing agents, vaccines against rabies and anthrax, were introduced by Pasteur. Two facts of his experiments on rabies vaccines are particularly noteworthy.

First, Pasteur found that serial passage of the rabies agent in rabbits resulted in a weakening of its virulence in dogs. During multiple passages in an animal or in tissue culture cells, mutations accumulate as the virus adapts to its new environment. These mutations adversely affect virus reproduction in the natural host, resulting in lessened virulence. Only as the molecular basis for virulence has begun to be elucidated by modern biologists has it become possible to deliberately remove the genes promoting virulence so as to produce attenuated viruses.

Second, Pasteur demonstrated that rabies virus retained immunogenicity even after its infectivity was inactivated by formalin and other chemicals, thereby providing the paradigm for one class of noninfectious virus vaccine, the “killed”-virus vaccine.

Attenuated-live and inactivated vaccines are the two broad classifications for vaccines. Anti-idiotype antibody vaccines and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccines represent innovations in inactivated vaccines. Recombinant-hybrid viruses are novel members of the live-virus vaccine class recently produced by genetic engineering.

Because attenuated-live-virus vaccines reproduce in the recipient, they provoke both a broader and more intense range of antibodies and T-lymphocyte-associated immune responses than noninfectious vaccines. Live-virus vaccines have been administered subdermally (vaccinia), subcutaneously (measles), intramuscularly (pseudorabies virus), intranasally (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis), orally (trivalent Sabin poliovirus), or by oropharyngeal aerosols (influenza). Combinations of vaccines have also been used. Live-virus vaccines administered through a natural route of infection often induce local immunity, which is a decided advantage. However, in the past, attenuated-live virus vaccines have been associated with several problems, such as reversion to virulence, natural spread to contacts, contaminating viruses, lability, and viral interference. SeeAnimal virus, Virulence, Virus classification, Virus interference

Vaccination

a method of preventing smallpox by artificially infecting a person with vaccinia virus; it is a form of active immunization.

The method of variolation was used in ancient China, India, and Africa. A healthy person was injected subcutaneously or in his nasal mucosa with the contents of smallpox vesicles and pustules, or with dried smallpox pus. This gave him the disease, usually in a mild form, after which he acquired immunity. In the 18th century, variolation was also used in European countries, including Russia. However, it sometimes caused a severe form of the disease. Moreover, a person with the mild form could become a source of infection for those around him. Finally, variolation can also cause other infectious diseases. In 1796 the English physician E. Jenner proposed immunization with the contents of cowpox vesicles; he had observed that milkmaids infected by sick cows suffered a mild, local form of smallpox, with rashes only on the arms, and did not contract the disease subsequently. Jenner’s method was called vaccination.

Modern vaccine is prepared by infecting calves with vaccinia virus (smallpox virus repeatedly passaged in calves and having as a result all the properties of cowpox virus). The contents of an infected calfs pockmarks are ground and mixed with glycerin, which kills foreign microorganisms without destroying the vaccinia virus. Special regulations set forth the main requirements for the production, control, and storage of smallpox vaccine.

The introduction of vaccination in public health practice sharply lowered the incidence of smallpox. However, vaccination is not compulsory in many countries. According to regulations now in effect in the USSR, all children are vaccinated at the age of one or two years or earlier if there is the threat of an epidemic. Vaccination is repeated at the ages of eight and 16; medical personnel, communal service personnel, and some other groups are revaccinated every five years thereafter. Travelers to countries where smallpox exists or persons who have come in contact with those suffering from the disease must also be vaccinated. Vaccination is performed epicutaneously: the skin is disinfected, vaccine applied, and the skin scarified. Bathing is forbidden until the crust falls off. If the skin remains smooth and a scar does not form, the vaccination is considered unsuccessful and is repeated. A vaccination sometimes has severe side effects such as fever, pronounced local reddening, and edema, which soon pass spontaneously. Antivariolic gamma globulin is used if there are complications, which rarely occur.

V. L. VASILEVSKII

What does it mean when you dream about vaccination?

Vaccination in a dream can relate to sickness in one’s waking life. Perhaps feeling the need to protect oneself from a particular situation or the influence of others. Could also be a sexual symbol. (See also Illness, Needle, Syringe).

vaccination

[‚vak·sə′nā·shən]

(immunology)

Inoculation of viral or bacterial organisms or antigens to produce immunity in the recipient.

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